Contribution Points, Awakening

This stance requires the legs to be stretched wide apart, front and back, with the spine twisted like a venomous snake, brewing a spirit and energy that is half-revealed and sharp.

It is like a venomous snake waking from hibernation, starving and highly aggressive.

At Ninth High School, even among the top students in the "Rocket Class," those who can hold this stance for over ten minutes are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

Yet their Class 6 is merely an ordinary "Parallel Class."

There is still half an hour left until the end of class.

Everyone knows that Meng Chao was injured in his second year of high school and hospitalized for several months.

After being discharged, he let himself go, having no intention of taking the National College Entrance Examination, and his foundation in the "Nine Great Stances" was mediocre at best.

After standing in the Hibernating Dragon Stance for half an hour, he would likely have to crawl home after school.

Many classmates feel a sense of shared sorrow, secretly thinking that Devil Yan is truly ruthless.

Zuo Haoran crosses his arms and sits down with a cold sneer.

Meng Chao obediently stands in the corner.

The Hibernating Dragon Stance seems to be a very simple introductory stance; in my nightmares, it has been obsolete for a long time. How exactly was it performed again?

Meng Chao tries to recall.

His mind is still a bit muddled, unable to distinguish between dream and reality.

"Stop acting tough and just beg for mercy!"

Everyone assumes Meng Chao is afraid to perform the Hibernating Dragon Stance, and out of pity, they whisper reminders.

"A black sheep, bringing this upon himself!"

Zuo Haoran mutters to himself, his voice just loud enough for those around him to hear.

Before the words even fade, Meng Chao moves.

Swish!

His front leg bows, his back leg tenses, his arms stretch out like a nimble snake, and his spine resembles a dragon that has just awakened from the abyss, gathering its strength amidst the spring thunder.

Meng Chao's spirit and energy erupt like a flash flood; he simply cannot control himself.

"This—"

The students are all dumbfounded.

They feel as though Meng Chao has been reborn, looking like a completely different person.

The rhythm of his muscles, bones, and limbs is filled with a sense of composure and confidence. Just by standing there, one cannot feel the slightest bit of the awkwardness typical of a high school student.

His posture is not standard, yet it is more beautiful than the average Hibernating Dragon Stance.

Even his fingertips tremble slightly, exhaling a faint, flickering killing intent.

"Damn, is Meng Chao's Hibernating Dragon Stance really this strong?"

"It's practically better than the class monitor's!"

"It's all an illusion, you can't fool me. He's risking his life to act tough. Just watch, he'll fall apart in a minute at most!"

A minute passes.

Meng Chao is still at ease.

It looks as if he could stand there until the evening self-study session.

Suddenly, thinking of something, he says with an apologetic face, "Teacher Yan, do you have any other instructions? Is my stance not standard enough? I am truly sorry; I haven't practiced in a while, so my form is a bit off. I will definitely correct it when I get back. Please forgive me, sir."

"..."

Yan Dongxing wants to say something but stops, his dark, stern face cycling through several expressions before he finally returns to the podium without a word.

The students curse inwardly.

This beast Meng Chao, is he even speaking like a human? If your Hibernating Dragon Stance isn't "standard," then what are we—earthworms?

Is it an illusion?

Everyone feels that since Meng Chao woke up, his stance skills and his ability to act tough have both skyrocketed.

All kinds of gazes and pressure shift back to Zuo Haoran.

The class monitor looks as if he has been slapped hard by Meng Chao.

His face is awkward, but a flash of ferocity flickers in the depths of his eyes.

"Class, let's continue with the lesson."

Yan Dongxing taps the blackboard. "The 'Hundred Battles Blade Technique' and the 'Thunder Cross Sword' are the two most important cold weapon combat skills in high school. Last year's final exam question was about the 'Thunder Cross Sword,' and this year, it is highly likely to be the turn of the 'Hundred Battles Blade Technique.' Everyone, listen carefully as I analyze the seven advanced techniques for cutting a combat blade into the gaps of a monster's carapace."

Yan Dongxing is a master of blade techniques and a gold-medal teacher.

It is rumored that he has a senior fellow apprentice who is a Peerless Expert serving on the National College Entrance Examination question-setting committee.

For the past three years, Yan Dongxing has specialized in teaching the third year, and his success rate in predicting exam questions is very high.

Seeing their teacher bring out his signature moves, the students perked up, forgetting all about Meng Chao.

Meng Chao stood in the Hibernating Dragon Stance, watching the exquisite blade techniques, yet his gaze remained unfocused.

Too clumsy. This blade technique is riddled with holes.

As if possessed, he muttered to himself, The very first move, 'Face-Splitting Wind Chop', has at least nine openings. Using this to contend with true experts from the Otherworld would guarantee a swift death in the first second.

However, this isn't Devil Yan's fault.

Around the time of my National College Entrance Examination, this 'Hundred Battles Blade Technique' was still just the 1.0 version, having only been developed recently.

By the time Dragon City was destroyed, the 'Hundred Battles Blade Technique' had been tempered and refined, absorbing the essence of the 'Blood Spirit Dual Blade Style' and 'Frost Giant Greatsword Style', and had already been upgraded to version 7.3.5.

Using the 'Hundred Battles Blade Technique' Ultimate Edition to measure the 1.0 version, it was only natural that I found the latter full of flaws.

Wait, what the hell is a Blood Spirit, and what the hell is a Frost Giant? Why are these strange things appearing in my head?

Meng Chao's expression was complex.

He could no longer deceive himself into thinking that what he had just experienced was merely a daydream.

This was the legendary rebirth, wasn't it?

Rebirth itself wasn't a big deal.

Although Meng Chao was just an ordinary high school student, he had read his fair share of web novels.

Moreover, he grew up in Dragon City.

Ever since Dragon City had inexplicably traveled from Earth to the Otherworld over fifty years ago, many bizarre and incredible things had occurred in the city.

Three-year-olds awakening superpowers, eighty-year-old grandmothers practicing ancient martial arts, housewives tearing zombies apart with their bare hands, and office workers battling monsters after clocking out—these were all daily life for the people of Dragon City.

Since the crossing had become a reality, rebirth and the like surely had their own profound scientific logic; Meng Chao could accept it.

It was just that, judging by the flashes of images from the depths of his mind, the future of both him and Dragon City looked quite tragic.

The Earthlings who had crossed over thought they understood the Otherworld.

They hadn't expected the vastness and power of the Otherworld to far exceed the limits of their imagination.

To this day, they were still only circling the barren lands of the Otherworld, having yet to leave the "Novice Village."

And outside the Novice Village...

Meng Chao felt like someone waking from a hangover; his memories of the past life were fragmented and blurred, and he couldn't remember exactly what the Otherworldly creatures that besieged Dragon City looked like.

He only remembered that the Otherworld possessed true civilizations, all sorts of experts, monsters, and beasts.

Compared to those beasts, the current "Monster Crisis" was truly small fry.

Holding high the banner of Earth Civilization, Dragon City marched into the mysterious Otherworld, fighting, struggling, and striving.

They had once been glorious, known as the "Otherworldly Calamity."

But in the end, outnumbered and doomed, they could not escape their fate.

Closing his eyes, Meng Chao seemed to see a million purple meteors exploding over Dragon City.

The flames of destruction were even more brilliant than fireworks.

The vivid images seemed to have occurred just an instant ago, burning from his retinas deep into his soul.

"Is this... the ending?"

Meng Chao asked his seventeen-year-old self.

"Screw that, I don't believe it! This is just an absurd nightmare!"

He snapped his eyes open.

"Dragon City will not fall!

"And I will absolutely not spend my life as a 'Third-Rate Expert'!

"Since I have returned from this nightmare, I will definitely change the future and make those unspeakable Otherworldly gods and demons open their damn dog eyes and see what a real 'Otherworldly Calamity' is!"

The seventeen-year-old Meng Chao had not yet been beaten down by society.

He still treated cringeworthy, edgy slogans like "My fate is determined by me, not heaven; I refuse to accept my fate, I will defy the heavens and change it" as his motto.

He gritted his teeth, his mind resolute.

The lightning-like fire deep within his eyes grew brighter, releasing a faint, stinging sensation.

"What is this now?" Meng Chao wondered in surprise.

A red speck of light, resembling both fire and electricity, hovered in the upper left of his field of vision, flickering like a floater in his eye.

Others shouldn't be able to see it; otherwise, if a Strange Fire were floating around the classroom, everyone would have started screaming by now.

Besides, it looked somewhat familiar.

At the end of the nightmare, when Dragon City was destroyed, he seemed to have seen this Strange Fire erupting from the core of the city.

Now, the Strange Fire accompanied Meng Chao back to his youth.

It shattered with a bang, transforming into lines of profound and intricate runes.

Hundreds of runes danced frantically, shifting from one type of bizarre, earthworm-like script into another even stranger form, as if they were information from Above the Stars, from the depths of the universe.

After changing dozens of times, the information was translated into Earth's language:

Host has passed the spirit and willpower check.

"Fire Seed" binding complete, host identity confirmed—"Flamebearer" Meng Chao.

Congratulations on becoming a Flamebearer of civilization. We hope you will do your utmost to spread the fire of civilization. Initial Contribution Points reward: 10,000.

Detected that the Flamebearer's body possesses chronic hidden injuries and is not proficient in any basic skills. Do you wish to automatically allocate initial Contribution Points to upgrade to the optimal state?

Fire Seed? Flamebearer? Make contributions? Contribution Points reward? A rebirth starter pack?

Meng Chao was completely bewildered, nodding subconsciously.

Consumed 1,000 Contribution Points to redeem Elementary Healing Technique once, healing progress 10%.

Consumed 1,010 Contribution Points to redeem Elementary Healing Technique once, healing progress 19%.

Consumed 1,025 Contribution Points to redeem Elementary Healing Technique once...

A series of messages flashed across Meng Chao's field of vision.

At the same time, warmth flowed through his entire body like a trickling stream, like the first tender sprout of a plant blooming in spring, the gentlest of touches.

My injuries! The hidden injuries I suffered from a cultivation mistake last year that even doctors were helpless against—they're actually healing? I can feel it; those shattered tendons and meridians are all knitting back together!

Meng Chao's eyes widened, feeling so good he wanted to burst into song.

Soon, after a string of healing messages, a brand-new message popped up:

Consumed 3,500 Contribution Points to redeem the basic force-generating method "Wild Bull Technique" and upgraded it to "Expert Level."

This is—

Various details emerged in Meng Chao's mind.

The twisting of every muscle fiber and every blood vessel in the human body when the "Wild Bull Technique" was activated, the circulation of blood and neural currents through every acupoint, bone density, complex ergonomic calculation formulas, and various scientific cultivation methods.

There were also images of himself from his nightmares, diligently practicing the "Wild Bull Technique."

His originally blurry memories of his past life shone brightly once more, transforming into a torrent of information that surged into his motor nerves and brain cells, instantly making him an expert in the "Wild Bull Technique."

With a single thought, Meng Chao felt as if he could control every muscle at will, squeezing out his limit of strength to throw a punch of extreme rigidity and power.

Awesome, awesome, awesome! So, are the legendary 'Third-Rate Experts' really this strong?

Just as he was enjoying the high, the pleasure came to an abrupt halt.

Don't stop, I'm just getting into it!

A message popped up before his eyes:

Basic skills are divided into five levels: "Ordinary, Expert, Master, Perfect, Ultimate." Proficiency of 100% is required to upgrade. Proficiency can be accumulated through daily combat and cultivation, or redeemed with Contribution Points.

Then redeem until I drop! Do I look like someone who cares about a few Contribution Points?

Flamebearer's current healing progress is 62%. Continuing to redeem Elementary Healing Technique requires 1,150 Contribution Points.

Expert Level "Wild Bull Technique" proficiency is 22%. Upgrading to Master Level requires 1,756 Contribution Points.

Currently remaining: 3 Contribution Points. Unable to redeem. Please accumulate more Contribution Points.

I... 10,000 Contribution Points, how can they be spent so fast? Then upgrade me to Master Level first, can I sign an IOU?

Negative.

Then you at least have to tell me how to earn Contribution Points, right?

The fire of civilization is endless. The stronger the civilization, the stronger the Flamebearer. Please contribute to your civilization as soon as possible to unlock more power and missions!